Common bile duct
Ductus choledochus
DigestiveOrgansAbdomen
- What it is
- Formed where the cystic and common hepatic ducts join; runs down behind the first part of the duodenum and through the back of the pancreatic head, then unites with the pancreatic duct at the hepatopancreatic ampulla on the descending duodenum.
- Function
- Delivers bile into the duodenum through the sphincter of Oddi.
- Size
- About 8 cm long and up to 6 mm wide.
- Clinical note
- A stone or pancreatic-head tumour blocking it causes obstructive jaundice with pale stools and dark urine; a painless palpable gallbladder suggests cancer (Courvoisier's law).